Winter 2012 - 2013 (1)

Pandit Ravi Shankar(11th December 2012)

The Sun having set in the West, will rise again in the East. Pandit Ravi Shankar, Varanasi, India, 7th April 1920 - San Diego, California, 11th December 2012.

Of course, it was bound to happen someday… I learned the sad news this morning from Naga Munchetty on BBC Breakfast Television. Pandit Ravi Shankar is no more. Details about his passing away at the very respectable age of 92, will be found all over the press. I bow with utmost reverence and sincere affection to this great Indian and world musician’s soul. I had the privilege to discover his Art – because he reached out into the world – at a very young age, when I was just fifteen or so. I saw him several times at the end of the nineteen sixties and during the seventies , when he toured around the world. I also remember Mr Alla Rakha in fascinating dialogue and mutual understanding on the tabla with the Master of sitar.

I was transfixed and transformed, mesmerized... hypnotized by this music. I fell in love with the North Indian Hindustani classical music style forever. Although I have a very wide and eclectic taste, I never fell out of love with this music. A number of his recordings are a part of my extensive collection of Indian and world music today. On the contrary, I followed Pandit Ji, and still have the vinyl records on which he recorded two concerts with another great soul: violonist Yehudi Menuhin: East Meets West, Parts I and II. Later on Ravi Shankar joked: East meets West, and West eats meat.

I was a huge fan of the Beatles in my teens and early adulthood, and so I also followed their evolution step by step, as they were more and more influenced by Ravi Shankar and also by Indian spirituality, which brought them to Maharishi Mahesh Yogi’s ashram in Rishikesh in February 1968. A few years later, this anonymous seeker was also there, arriving at Sivananda ashram in January 1974 after a tiresome voyage overland. I spent many months over there, practicing various forms of yoga and spiritual disciplines, and also visiting nearby ashrams. Again, I’ve experimented in various directions and that’s going on to this day, but the immersion in the ancient Indian spirituality remains one of the defining moments in my life. After the Beatles were no more, George Harrison became the dearest of the four lads to me, and I was very fond of his “Indianizing“ experiences and association with Pandit Ravi Shankar. The sitar conquered Western pop music, and those were days of discovery and ground-breaking innovation.

With hindsight however, I wonder whether George, myself and millions of others didn’t go one step too far at the time - although there are personal and collective reasons for that. It’s fine to discover the world, but I now believe that everyone best stays rooted, in order not to become uprooted. I’m a big believer in fusions of all kinds and at all levels. But connect from your own base, don’t neglect it, don’t hide it nor deny it, because it is you. Connect from there, not by superficial imitation. Blend, and be free…

Since a very long time, Ravi Shankar’s music isn’t exotic to me anymore. It crossed barriers straight into my ears, into my brain and my heart, where it sunk in and became a part of me. As through Bach’s music, I experienced that the Divine is obviously present in sounds, and more so in certain types of harmonious classical structures than in others.

Pandit Ravi Shankar opened many doors to me. Not only was I a fan of the pure North-Indian style of his -"pure", that is to say: a product of mixing! -, but I also appreciated many a cross-cultural fusion. He laid the foundation for world music, which also led me later on to listen intensely to African musical styles, to reggae, to South-American music and to many musical styles mixing those and other influences. Think of Carlos Santana, Gilberto Gil, John McLaughlin, Jimmy Cliff, Philip Glass... Much later, I listened to both his daughters, Anushka Shankar and Norah Jones. They’re both excellent, one of them playing and singing in Eastern fashion, and the other one with a Western jazzy repertoire. How remarkable, how beautiful.

Ravi Shankar made me want to discover other Indian musicians - the list is very long…- , singers – like Lata Mangeshkar for instance- , other instruments –like the bansuri, the veena…- and folk music from different regions and states. Once upon a time, listening to Indian devotional music, made me curious about Bhakti movements like ISKCON. Music further aroused curiosity in me about the dances, the sculptures on temples, the philosophy, the way of life, the history of India before, during and after the British Raj and so on. I tasted just a little bit of the sacred litterature, the unique Sanskrit language, the spirituality, Mimansa, Yoga, and the other Darshanas. The various indigenous religions of India also: Sanatana Dharma, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism. A spark of India had crept under my skin, and through music, reading, films, exhibitions, friends... I kept in touch. Indian cuisine is around where I live.

And Ravi Shankar was always there. That's why I didn’t travel back to India until 2004, not having an opportunity nor the urge to do so, being busy trying to build a career, raising children, marrying, divorcing, scrambling back on my feet, remarrying and so on. Ravi Shankar stayed with me, and also that spiritual inclination with some Indian flavours attached to it...

Trying to summarize what characteristics of Shankar’s musical performances resonated most in me, I found quite a few. His performances demonstrated total mastery of techniques, occasional wit and humour, inspiration reflected both in classical structures and brilliant improvisations. All of this came out of a background of apparent ease, doubtlessly based on very hard work.

It is with folded hands therefore, that I bow today and say, from the bottom of my heart: “dhanyavad”, thank you, Pandit Ji, for enlightening and brightening our lives, making no distinctions: your Art was for all to discover. The Sun, which sets in the West, is bound to rise in the East once more. Thank you for sharing one of the timeless musical traditions of your land. And if you're now on a good star, I hope there's always a sitar. Rag Rageshri? Bhimpalasi? Charukeshi? Parameshwari? May your soul rest in freedom and at peace. "Om". 11th December 2012.